Auntie Dee wrote:
Well, we did get the message that you HATE TRUMP! We also understand that you think any supporter of Trump is an automatic bigot and racist! Seems you consider yourself to be both judge & jury and interpreter of everything Trump!
Nah, I'm just an average guy who calls a duck a duck. After four years of Trump-related squabbling it doesn't take a genius to figure out the motives prevalent among trump-supporters. I never actually said that every Trump supporter is a racist. I did suggest that bigotry (of which racism is one variation) is a common characteristic among all Trump supporters but that's because I forgot to consider people who for a lack of intelligence just follow what others tell them.
Auntie Dee wrote:
Do you realize how really CLOSE-MINDED and irrelevant you are?
Yes - not very. I listen to Trump supporters and I try to understand their view, which is never difficult because those views are always so simple. I ask questions and I consider the responses. The idea that bigotry plays such a predominant role didn't develop in my mind overnight. I resisted for a long time, looking for other reasons. But in four years I have yet to meet one single Trump supporter that can present an intelligent and compelling reason to support him.
You are more than welcome to be the first. Go ahead and tell me why YOU think I should vote for Trump. I will consider your response if it's serious one and not just an insult or a wisecrack.
Auntie Dee wrote:
YET, Somehow you believe that Trump supporters are driven by HATE?
Yes - it appears that way.
Auntie Dee wrote:
The WHOLE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM for the coming election is TRUMP HATRED!
Yes, there will be a lot of votes cast against Trump out of hatred for him of course but there is also a lot of focus on actual issues and that's what the Democratic Platform is emphasizing, not forgetting that saving America from Trump is indeed a big campaign message.
One of the bigger differences that I am seeing between the left and right is in the tolerance or even the acknowledgement of Trump's violations of protocol and human decency.
The fact that Republicans refused to hear witnesses during the impeachment trial for instance... That was a damaging precedent to set no matter what excuses people came up with. The idea that a president is above the law is another dangerous precedent and Trump's policy on the border has put the U.S. on human rights watch lists for the first time in history. I could go on but you get the idea. These are not the kind of conspiracy theories that the right depends on to demonize the left, these are things that actually happened in plain sight.
Liberals are concerned about these violations while conservatives make excuses for them. Why? Is there another motive more compelling than our constitutional safeguards against tyranny? More compelling than basic human rights? When I look for that answer in the opinions of Trump-supporters I see much more concern about vague generalizations like "making America Great Again", "draining the swamp" and getting rid of the "raccoons".
In another thread, I recently mentioned the USAToday feature article called Trump Nation where 103 Americans explained their reasons for voting for Trump. None of them mentioned a single policy, problem or promise. The reasons they did mention were vague and presumptuous, like "He's a straight-talker" or "He's a businessman" and of course the hatred for Hillary.
So, I turn to Trump's rallies to see what he brings up. What I see people reacting to more than anything else is when he attacks certain demographics especially liberals. I don't remember any other president doing this. Clinton, Bush, Obama - they always addressed the American people as one nation. They never had rallies where only their supporters show up and they never made nasty comments about the people in political opposition. But Trump does and he gets standing ovations for it - and the nastier he gets the more pumped up his audience gets. I watched it happen many times.
This is what leads us to believe that even though both sides are guilty of some bigotry and hatred. The Trump rallies really drive home the realization that what is far more compelling than the issues I've mentioned is an attack on other Americans they don't like.
The conversations on this forum don't help matters. Wolf counselor came right out and admitted to being a racists on the first page of this thread right before saying he will vote for Trump.
https://www.onepoliticalplaza.com/tpr?p=3367979&t=189856 Auntie Dee wrote:
Somehow in your twisted minds, you seem to think that is a winning platform??
What - hating Trump? Well, it certainly helps influence votes - any Trump-supporter should know this. But I think the winning platform is a concern for the future, like how to give ALL Americans access to affordable healthcare, protecting the environment, better defense against viral outbreaks and a restoration of human rights at the border.
It seems the vast majority of Americans share these concerns while Trump support is less than 40% right now. So you tell me. Do you think Trump's platform is a winning one?